Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.
Doris LessingThe automatic reaction of practically any young person is, at once, against authority. That, I think, began in the First World War because of the trenches, and the incompetence of the people on all fronts.
Doris LessingThat is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.
Doris LessingBorrowing is not much better than begging; just as lending with interest is not much better than stealing.
Doris Lessing[On her mother:] I was in nervous flight from her ever since I can remember anything, and from the age of fourteen I set myself obdurately against her in a kind of inner emigration from everything she represented. Girls do have to grow up, but has this battle always been so implacable?
Doris Lessing